PTRD

The PTRD-41 (Shortened from Russian, ProtivoTankovoye Ruzhyo Degtyaryova;Противотанковое однозарядное ружьё системы Дегтярёва образца 1941 года;"Degtyaryov Anti-Tank Rifle") was an anti-tank rifle produced and used from early 1941 by the Soviet Red Army during World War II. It was a single-shot weapon which fired a 14.5×114mm round. Although unable to penetrate the frontal armor of German tanks, it could penetrate the thinner sides of early-war German tanks as well as thinly armored self-propelled guns.

History

In 1939 the USSR captured several hundred Polish Model 35 anti-tank rifles, which proved effective in the September Campaign when Poland was invaded by Germany. Vasily Degtyaryov copied its lock and several features of the German Panzerbüchse 38 when hasty construction of an anti-tank rifle was ordered in July 1941.

The PTRD and the similar PTRS-41 were the only individual anti-tank weapon available to the Red Army in numbers upon the outbreak of the war with Germany. The 14.5 mm armor-piercing bullet had a muzzle velocity of 1,012 m/s (3,320 ft/s). It could penetrate an armor plate up to 35 to 40mm (40mm with tungsten ammunition) thick at a distance of 100 meters at 0 degrees. During the initial invasion, and indeed throughout the war, most German tanks had side armor thinner than 40mm (Panzer I and Panzer II: 13-20mm, Panzer III and Panzer IV series: 30mm, Panzer V Panther (combat debut mid-1943): 40-50mm). Furthermore, due to the high velocity and small size of the round, it had a very high chance of shattering or utterly failing against armor it should have penetrated, especially if the target was struck at an oblique angle.